Ellsworth Storey, one of Seattle’s most popular architects, graduated from the University of Illinois in 1903 and moved to Seattle. Storey was perhaps the first Seattle architect to directly integrate local materials with architectural design. This practice, later known as "regionalism" was highly influential in Seattle architecture of the middle- and late-twentieth century. This building was built for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909 and originally was known as the Hoo-Hoo House, for the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, a lumberman's service fraternity. The Seattle Hoo-Hoo chapter was organized to promote and publicize the AYP. The building later served as the University of Washington's faculty club.